Pistons finish strong, beat short-handed Suns

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Stan Van Gundy wants his Detroit Pistons to play with energy in the middle of a playoff race.

The problem is that sometimes urgency leads to frustration — especially if a game against a weaker opponent becomes more difficult than it should be.

“You’ve got to learn to deal with the pressure,” said Van Gundy, Detroit’s coach. “You can’t say there’s no pressure, because there is, there’s pressure on these games. But if you want to play at a high level in the NBA, you have to play with pressure.”

The Pistons finally shook out of their funk late in the third quarter and routed the short-handed Phoenix Suns 112-95 on Sunday. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 23 points for playoff-chasing Detroit.

The Suns were without several top players, but they still led 65-53 in the third quarter. Detroit (34-36) finished strong in that period and then built a double-digit lead of its own in the fourth.

“It don’t matter who you put out there,” Caldwell-Pope said. “It was a game we needed.”

TIP-IN

Suns: Phoenix signed forward Jarell Eddie to a 10-day contract before the game. He scored 13 points.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

On Wednesday against Sacramento, Phoenix started its youngest lineup in team history, according to information provided by the Suns from the Elias Sports Bureau. That lineup of Booker, Ulis, T.J. Warren, Alex Len and Marquese Chriss averaged 21 years, 258 days.

Sunday’s starting group was even younger, with Derrick Jones replacing Booker. Jones turned 20 in February, while Booker turned 20 in October.

Suns coach Earl Watson joked before the game that he might need to suit up because so many players would be out.

“Tyson and I was in the same draft, so it’s possible,” said Watson, who played collegiately at UCLA.

Van Gundy was asked more generally about teams going with younger players down the stretch.

“I think everybody does what they need to do. I think everybody in this league — every situation’s different and everybody’s trying to do what’s best for their team and their organization,” Van Gundy said. “Especially when you get into these last 20 games, everybody’s in a little bit of a different place.

“There’s people playing young guys, there’s people who want to lose, there’s people who are trying to make the playoffs, there’s teams near the top that want to rest guys to be ready for the playoffs. Every night’s different.”

UP NEXT

Suns visit the Heat on Tuesday night in the second game of a six-game road trip.